Jen Capstraw, Co-Founder of Women of Email, on the importance of testing with meaning: More focus on testing and optimization can produce two possible outcomes. Possibility One: Improved customer experience which boosts the bottom line. (Hooray!) Possibility Two: A lot of spinning of wheels that have little impact on top-level business goals. Marketers have a pesky habit of hyper-optimizing campaigns with limited impact, or creative minutia that doesn’t matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Testing can produce big gains if you have informed talent and technology that enables optimization at scale. But otherwise, it can be a real time-waster. Instead of going through the motions of a test because it’s “best practice” to “test everything,” zero in on where you can make the most meaningful business impact. Where would a subtle improvement actually move the needle? (Tip: It’s definitely not testing the color of a CTA button in a one-off campaign.) Once you figure out what might make a difference, you want to design a testing strategy that minimizes opportunity cost. That means, the least-effective versions of your tests go to the smallest groups of folks possible while still ensuring reliable, meaningful results. And finally, tests should provide learnings that you can apply going forward. Speaking of which - this Orange Paper is your perfect jumping off point for a meaningful testing strategy!” www.phrasee.co 3